The Bond
by KingKeen
Summary: The path taken to get unlimited power is fraught with danger, but when threatened by an unstoppable warlord who has come back from the dead, Po must bravely go where no panda has gone before, and brave the hidden terrors of Volcano Mountain. A certain special tiger and the rest of the Furious Five must join with him on his quest to save China, and the world as they know it.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **This is my first fanfic I have submitted ever, so I hope all of you like it!**

GONG! GONG! Po started awake to the unwelcome, jarring notes bringing him away from his sleep. He raised one arm to fend off the attacker he knew would be arriving any second, for what else would make such a hideous noise at this hour? He flailed his arm around while opening his eyes, the momentary shift in balance caused by his arm made him roll off the bed. He hit the floor face down with a bone shaking crash. "Damn it!" he mumbled, his voice muffled by the hard wood floor of his Jade Palace Barracks room as he realised what the noise was. He heard it every morning, after all. "Of course I wake up when my dream gets to the good bit! Every time!" Cursing Shifu and his blasted gong, he heaved himself up and sat on his bed, while trying to mentally think back through the dream. It had been a really good one, super vivid. Po furrowed his brow and massaged his ears to stimulate his memory. Something about a dancing bean bun, fireworks and - "PANDA!" Shifu called from down the hallway. Grumbling, Po stood up and opened his door.

The first thing to greet him was a pair of amber eyes staring at him from across the hallway. Po's eyes were drawn to them and their owner, Tigress. He nodded hello, before letting his gaze drift downwards to rest on another pair of eyes, this time blue, and very exasperated. Shifu tapped Oogway's staff on the ground impatiently.

"Every day you sleep in, Po. It has gone too far. You must be punished for your lack of punctuality, and so you will go and study the scrolls of Kung Fu 456 - 480. No breaks! They are in the storage room. Here is the key." Shifu tapped the staff on the ground again and threw Po the key, before turning away. With his back to Po, and facing the rest of the Furious Five, he said: "The rest of you will resume your normal morning routine, but at midday you must all be present at the courtyard outside the Training Hall, I have a new technique to show you all. You included, Po." This he added with a backwards glance to the panda, before limping out of the barracks.

Po called out to the Furious Five as they began to make their way out of the barracks to the kitchen. "Can someone start making breakfast? I'll take over after I get the scrolls Shifu wanted me to read."

Tigress looked around at him and nodded. "I'll start -"

"Oooh no you won't!" Mantis interjected. "We all know your reputation in the kitchen. I'd like my day to start without having to take care of the burning down of half of the Jade Palace! Monkey or Crane can cook, I can't, on account of all the vegetables needing to be cooked are bigger than I am." He chuckled. Being as small as he was had it's perks. Tigress rolled her eyes and they all continued down the steps to the kitchen.

Po watched them leave and then turned around and trotted to the storage room. He unlocked the heavy wooden door, and strode over to the open cabinets that held the thousand scrolls of Kung Fu. He crouched down and read along the labels until he located the numbers he needed. He grabbed all of the scrolls in his arms, them creating a huge pile so that most of his head was obscured behind them. Po sidled out of the storage room, closing the door with his foot and making sure the lock clicked before awkwardly walking towards the kitchen with his bundle.

As he approached, he could hear muffled laughter coming from the room where his friends were in. He could hear Mantis telling a story about Mr Hueng, the bartender from the village. He quickly tapped the door open with his arm, while keeping all of the scrolls balanced in his arms. "- And the look on his face every time he thought he lost the money people were giving him, he was so confused, and really i was putting it all into his hat!" A fresh bout of laughter came from Crane and Monkey as Mantis, who was standing on the table, concluded with his story. Po set down the scrolls in a pile on one end of the table.

"So has anyone started making breakfast yet?" Po asked around the room.

"Well no because Tigress got the idea that if she wasn't allowed to cook, then no one was!" Crane said, while casting Tigress, who was sitting across the table from him a dark look. Tigress crossed her arms, a smug look on her face.

"Well it wasn't fair on me, so I thought we should just wait until you got back Po, so we can enjoy the cooking of someone who actually knows what they are doing - ." Her eyes found Po's. " - and is good at it."

A compliment from Master Tigress? Either she got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, or Po got up on the right side, for once, Po thought to himself, as he felt warm inside at the compliment. "Thanks, Tigress." He smiled at her, and she raised one eyebrow at him, her tail swishing behind her chair. Po turned around and began to cook. After such a compliment, not a huge one by most people's standards, but as this was Master Tigress, and she was awesome, he decided to do an even better job at breakfast than usual, and chose to make his Secret Ingredient Soup, something he usually reserved for special occasions. He got to work, and before long had 6 steaming bowls of it played out in front of the warriors, and everyone tucked in. After much slurping, praising and other eating noises, everybody was finished and the Five trooped to the Training hall to train and go about their other activities.

Po sighed. That was a good soup. He burped and picked a noodle out from in between his teeth. His gaze travelled over to the corner, where the pile of scrolls were sitting. He sighed again and stood up. _Better read them now_ , he thought to himself. He walked over to the pile and sat down to start rifling through them, he needed to find number 456, as Shifu always wanted them read in order. Po stuck his hand in the middle of the pile and pulled out a handful of scrolls. The one he wanted wasn't there. He repeated the process till he found what he wanted. Po opened up the scroll and began to read.

 _This is soo boring._ Po looked up after reading through to number 469. He looked up at the sun which was peaking through the window. He estimated the time at about 10 o'clock, so he still had a fair bit of time before Shifu wanted to meet them. He looked back down at the scroll pile after discarding his current one. Something strange caught his eye. One of the scrolls, previously hidden in the pile but brought to the front by his sifting through, was differently bound than all the others. The outside was jade green, and looked practically new, like it had never been read. Po picked it up, interested, and studied it. It definitely had not been read, there were no creases whatsoever. _Odd,_ he thought. _There is no number on here._

Po unrolled the scroll slowly. It was fairly short and had an inscription, under which a drawing of a volcano was made in fine calligraphy. He began to read:

 _The Pairing of Yin and Yang._ He read. _The Pairing of Yin and Yang is the singular, most powerful ritual of the joining of souls capable in the Universe. It is even more powerful than through love, as some souls bond. However, with the love bond present as well, the Pairing of Yin and Yang's potency is increased tenfold, giving the two souls that bond almost unlimited power._

 _The true nature of Yin and Yang may only be revealed through a baptism of fire and water. A blood pact must be given before the ritual, transferring each other's Qi with the pact. Only after this, and the baptism, can almost unlimited power be acquired._

Po looked up from the scroll with glee. "This. Is. Awesome!" He shouted. He looked quickly over the scroll again before closing it, jumping up from the floor and putting it in his back pocket. Po ran outside the kitchen imagining what it would be like to have almost unlimited power. _I'd be able to see through walls! And hear a butterflies' wing beat! And harness the flow of the Universe! It would be like better than the Dragon Scroll, 100 times better!_ Po moved out to the Training hall, miming punches and kicks and acting out in his mind the awesome battles he would have once he had almost unlimited power! He was going through a battle secret in his mind, and kicked the Training Hall door open.

"HIYA!" The door crashed back on its hinges. As Po looked inside, he saw the Five on their various favourite areas of the Hall. Tigress, at that very moment, double fist struck one of the Swinging Clubs, making it explode into pieces, with one of the pieces flying straight to Po's face, almost mirroring the first time he saw the Training Hall when he first became Dragon Warrior. This time, however, Po reached out and spin roll kicked ("Spin Roll Kick!") the shard right back at Tigress. She blocked it, and taking it as an invitation, jumped into a Tahlia Leap to begin sparring with Po.

Po saw her fly up into the air, and got into his fighting stance. He watched as she did a forward flip, extending one of her legs to try to smack her foot into Po's head from above, hopefully forcing him into the ground. He watched, ready for this move, and just as her leg was about to come into contact with his face, he stepped to the side. When tigress' legs hit the floor she immediately rolled to the left, dodging Po's retaliation flat palm strike. They began to move through a number of battle sequences, going from striking to arm locks, to blocking each other's moves. The two were fairly evenly matched, which was saying something as Po had only been the Dragon Warrior for about 6 months, so he had improved at a startling rate.

As the fight wore on, Tigress' superior endurance began to tell on Po, she had succeeded in backing him into a corner of the Training Hall, both were sweating and gasping for air, Po more so than Tigress. Tigress did a spinning kick and knocked Po's hand away from where it was heading, towards her face. Suddenly her foot slipped on the polished wooden floor of the Training Hall, and she fell onto Po, her face in his chest fur as they both fell back against the wall.

All of a sudden, the whole training hall went quiet. Tigress quickly pushed herself off Po's surprisingly soft and warm fur. "Sorry, Po." Her amber eyes met his for a split second before she looked away.

"It's alright Tigress! That was awesome!" Po said enthusiastically. _Why is she behaving so awkwardly about it? Its not like we haven't come into contact with each other during training before. Wait, what am I thinking? It's Master Tigress! She never gets awkward! It must be something else. Maybe she is tired, maybe she is allergic to my fur! That would be terrible!_ Po thought to himself. He looked around and noticed the others were staring at Tigress and him. "What?" he asked with a bemused expression.

…..

"Inner peace…inner, in-in-inner peace…" Shifu's ear twitched as his exceptional hearing picked up a loud "HIYA!", followed by a bang. He sighed. Ever since the panda had fallen from the sky to assume the mantle of the Dragon Warrior, the peace and quiet usually found in the Jade Palace grounds had been broken. No longer were there silent, neutral faces all around him during his waking moments. No longer was there sole and one hundred percent devotion to Kung Fu. No longer was there a discord within him, that had plagued him all these years since his beloved son had almost destroyed the Valley of Peace and attempted to take the Dragon Scroll for himself. The grief Shifu felt at having to fight against him, and Tai Lung's eventual death was still present, but hidden under the many layers of annoyance Po brought to the table every day. He had to thank that Panda, life was indeed better since he had come into the Jade Palace. It was like the fire of life had been rekindled in all of them, himself and the Five. _There's more to live for, now that he's around. I'd never let him know that though. He would never let me live it down, arrogant Panda he is._

Shifu flipped off the tip of Oogway's staff to land with a barely concealed grunt while he remarked at the state of his creaky knees. _One day someone will have to invent a moving chair, with wheels! I can't go on like this forever._ He limped off from his room to the Training Hall where he knew his favourite student and daughter was currently obliterating that sorry excuse for a Dragon Warrior. He continued on, till he reached the door of the Training Hall.

The sight that met Shifu's eyes was nothing like his prediction of what he would find once he looked inside the Hall. Shifu stopped at the door, and looked on with concealed apprehension and surprise. Tigress had slipped! Never once had Shifu known Tigress to lose her footing. And then she was against the Panda. Shifu took in the momentary tension and stiffness Tigress acquired when pressed up against the fur ball. The quick, shy glance up that was returned by the Dragon Warrior. And the hurried back-pedalling and apologising. _Interesting. Very interesting. I shall have to keep my eye on this._ "Students!" he called out, saving his two best fighters from their embarrassment. "Down to the courtyard, please. It is time."

 **First chapter done, what do you guys think? Please rate and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews, and seeing all the people reading this story has given me the urge to keep writing as fast as I can, so here is Chapter 2!**

Chapter 2

The Five traipsed out and down the Training Hall stairs to the courtyard to await Master Shifu's new technique. They assembled themselves in a rough semicircle, with Shifu in the middle. "Now, students, this is the Liǎng Diàn strike. Monkey, if you could please step forwards and assist me in this demonstration." Shifu gestured and Monkey came forwards, while a wooden bandit painting was hoisted into the air across from the circle. "Run at me, Monkey, and grab my arms. I will do the rest." Monkey nodded and sprinted at Shifu, arms outstretched and Shifu caught his arms. Shifu spun around while flinging Monkey through the air and jumped at the same time, sending both of them flying through the air towards the fake enemy, with Monkey just in front of Shifu. Monkey, seeing the result Shifu wanted out of the demonstration, brought both legs out and kicked the wood enemy. The wood cracked, and then Shifu slammed into it, just behind Monkey. The wood shattered and they both landed on the ground.

The Five were suitably impressed. "Go now and practice this with your sparring partners. Monkey and Mantis, Crane and Viper, Po and Tigress." Shifu nodded, and limped off to view the training from the Jade Palace Roof. Po turned and nodded to Tigress She stared back at him, one eyebrow slightly raised. He turned back to face the wooden cutout enemy. "You! Guy with the funny helmet!" He gestured at the enemy, finger raised, "Get ready to feel the thunder!" He whirled back to face Tigress with a "Let's do this!". Tigress needed no further urging. She ran at Po, succeeded in grabbing his arms, but when trying to swing him around in the air, she lost all of their momentum and they both stayed with both feet firmly planted in the ground, staring at each other. "That didn't go so good" Po apologetically stepped back. "Maybe I should try and swing you."

"It's not that I can't swing you, I mean i've picked you up plenty of times before. Must be the angle of the swing." Tigress mused to herself for a minute, her tail twitching while she thought through the problem. Po was standing off to the side, eyes riveted on her. _She looks so cute when she's thinking._ Po began to daydream and his mind wandered off from the task at hand. Suddenly Tigress looked up and snapped her fingers. "I have it!" She looked over at Po, and that look became a glare. He was slouching and wore a vacant expression, staring off into the distance. Tigress slowly walked up to him and waved a hand in front of his face. _He looks so dumb when he's daydreaming. A sensible person would at least have the decency to close their mouth, or at least stop the drool._ She walked around behind him, thinking of a way to wake him up that didn't involve punching him and settled on a loud roar.

"ROOOOOOAAAR!" Po shrieked, spun around, and fell over. "Tigress! Don't scare me like that!" He whined while clutching his chest. "I think i peed myself a little" He mumbled, and surreptitiously checked his pants. Suddenly they were surrounded by the rest of the Five, who had come over to investigate Tigress' roar.

"What's going on guys? Po, what did you do this time?" Mantis sighed exasperatedly and climbed up onto his stomach. "Woah, what's that smell?" He sniffed, and his nose told him the news. "Po, surely you are too old to lose control of your bladder when you get a teensy bit frightened?" The rest of the Five burst out laughing, except for Tigress. Po was mortified, he lay there in a blushing heap, taking the laughter without saying anything until Tigress held out her hand with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, Po." Po took the proffered hand and came slowly to his feet. "It's alright, I'll just go find a change of pants and everything will be good as new!" His blush already subsiding, he trotted off to the Barracks to find his change of pants. Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane, still chortling, made their way up to the Kitchen. Tigress stood staring after them for a moment, filled with guilt at what she did to Po, then looked around at the messy Courtyard, filled with the broken splinters of wood from the other pairs sparring, and decided to clean it up before she herself went up to dinner with the rest of them.

…..

The sweet, pungent aroma of Stinky Tofu greeted Tigress as she pushed open the door to the Kitchen. She looked around and saw a grinning Po at the counter doing an impression of the local street performer, Ms Ani, whose belly dancing was the stuff of legend around the Valley of Peace. He strutted along the counter, rhythmically moving his hips to the beat the rest of the Five were providing, through banging their chopsticks on the table. Po twirled around and saw Tigress. His grin became wider and he gestured for her to come and sit. He belly danced over to her chair, and, with great aplomb, pulled it out with a flourish while gesturing for her to sit. Tigress was taken aback, though she didn't show it. _He isn't mad at me for what I did earlier? If i was him, I'd be out for his guts right now, and the rest of the Five wouldn't be able to scrape him out of the Jade Bowl for a week! Still that would never happen because I would not lose control of my bladder. Ever._ She walked forwards and sat down in the offered seat. "Thank you, Po" She smiled slightly at him. His grin, which she did not think capable of becoming any wider, widened. _If he keeps doing that he is going to split his face._ Po continued around the table, twirling and dancing all the while, until he got back to the counter. Without missing a beat, he served up six plates of the tofu and sent them around the table, while continuing around and finally plopped down with a "Ta da!" in the seat next to Tigress. The Furious Five clapped and cheered. "I never knew you could dance Po! I'll have to teach you some tricks!" Viper said with a smile.

"You should do that around the village! You'd make a fortune!" Monkey yelled excitedly. Aside, to Mantis he whispered: "If he does we could put him in dancing competitions, we can bet on him and he will make us rich!" Mantis raised his eyebrows and nodded, intrigued by the idea. Crane tapped his beak on the table. His mind was more on his rumbling stomach than a dancing Panda. "Can we eat now?" There was a general affirmative around the table, and they all tucked in. For a minute there was silence while everyone enjoyed their Stinky Tofu. Then conversation started up that involved a retelling of Po's battle with Tai - Lung. With an important cough, he began rambling on about the tale. Tigress found her mind starting to wander and realised that Po's shoulder was almost continuously touching hers as he gestured and acted out the fight between him and Tai - Lung. Instead of pushing Po away or moving herself, to her surprise she found that she didn't mind his touch at all. She stopped listening altogether and focused entirely on the warm patch of fur that was rubbing against hers. She suddenly realised the table had gone quiet. "Well?" Po said.

"What?" She looked around, and everyone was staring at her. "What happened?"

"Well you were kinda staring off into space with one eye half closed, it looked like you were half asleep. You're awake now?" Po asked, concerned. "Are you too tired?"

"No, I'm fine." She pushed herself away from Po and sat up straight. "What were you saying before that I missed?"

"Oh we were talking about the end to the battle, and I was acting it out, and it came to the part when you guys came out of the mist into the village and saw me, and you said…?"

Tigress suddenly remembered. "Master" she said, and deciding to play along with their game, brought her hands together, fist and palm touching, and bowed. She straightened and smiled at Po who was looking pointedly at Monkey. She turned, and with a swish of her tail was at the door. "Goodnight", she said over her shoulder. The table chorused "goodnight" back at her. She closed the door and strode to her room.

"Well, Monkey?". Po glared at him pointedly again, gesturing with his finger. "Hand them over". Monkey sighed and grimaced as he pushed over twenty almond cookies to Po. "I can't believe she actually called you Master again. So unlike her. I expected her to slap you or something. Thats what you guys were suspecting right?" He looked around the table, and got nodded heads in return.

"Well, looks like you're wrong. Po wins, again! Yeah!" With that, Po stood up and collected the dishes, then went to wash them. The rest of the Five called goodnight, which he returned. After they had gone to bed, he finished washing up and then followed them himself, trying to work around the creaky spots on the floor, until he got to his room. He looked over at Tigress' door before closing his own, and lay back on his bed with a contented sigh.

…..

The next morning, Shifu woke to ring the gong, wondering if maybe, finally, Po had broken his habit of sleeping in, and would in fact wake up at the gong like everyone else. He struck it, then turned to the corridor of the Barracks, where "Good morning Master!" came out of five throats. He sighed. _Apparently not today._ He began to limp down the corridor until he got to the panda's room. He reached out his hand to open it, but before he got to grab the door it opened. Po stepped out and his stomach hit Shifu, pushing him into Tigress, who was standing across the hall. "Good morn - Master Shifu! I am so sorry!" Po ran forwards, frightened to help Master Shifu.

 _He is so clumsy._ Master Shifu picked himself up and straightened his moustache. This time, Po, you are lucky. I can't punish you today, because I need you to attempt to teach the Five how to achieve Inner Peace. Perhaps a different teaching method to mine will help." He turned to the Five. "Go with Po this morning, attempt to keep his mind on track and learn what he has stored up in that brain of his, and then you may possibly have the afternoon off, if you have progressed far enough." He turned around and limped off, leaving Po to stare at the Five. A smile started to spread over Po's face. With barely contained excitement, he clapped his hands. "This is going to be fun!"

After breakfast Po led the Five to the Dragon Grotto, where he first saw Inner Peace in action. He assembled them in a semi circle around the mouth of the grotto, and then hopped on the rock Shifu stood on when first demonstrating Inner Peace. He turned around and showed the Five his Inner Peace again. After he had gone through the motions, he turned back around to face the Five. "Now. Inner Peace. It's kind of like… finding…. Inner… Peacefulness? I guess". He said hopefully.

"Very astute, Po." Crane sighed, and shuffled his wings.

"I'm trying, ok, this is my first time teaching this so bear with me." Eventually he had them all practicing the moves while trying to be at peace inside themselves. Po stood in front of them, watching closely. Viper and Mantis were performing the moves beautifully, they had very fluid motions and seemed very relaxed in a deep meditative state. Monkey and Crane were completing the moves well, a bit less naturally than Viper and Mantis, but still doing well. Tigress, on the other hand… Po shifted his gaze to her. _She is so jerky, except she is meditating very deeply. Almost too deeply. She does not look at peace at all. I wonder why she is having so much trouble. She never struggles at anything related to Kung Fu, ever!_ Po walked forwards and touched Tigress' hand. Her eyes flew open, half in the Inner Peace pose. "Tigress, what do you meditate on while trying to get Inner Peace? Come over here". Po grabbed her hand again and led her to the other side of the Dragon Cave, away from the others. "Could you tell me?" Tigress looked down at her feet.

"I was thinking about my time at the Bao Gu Orphanage. Those are the earliest memories I have, so I thought I should start there. I don't like revisiting those memories at all." Tigress looked up, revealing eyes filled with pain and sadness for an instant, until she noticed her lapse and covered with her usual emotionless expression. But an instant was enough for Po. "Here, come and sit down." He gestured to the rock. They both sat down facing each other.

"It's just that everyone in the orphanage was very nasty towards me." She said guardedly. Po questioned her further, but she wouldn't reveal any more. "Tigress, I think it will be good for you to get the information off your chest, just remember I'm always here for you. We all are." He said, gesturing out at the rest of the Five, who were still meditating. "Any time you want to tell me, tell me. I know the details about the orphanage, you know I know that, if you ever want to tell me really what's wrong just remember I'm here." He looked at her with caring eyes, and reached out and touched her hand. She met his eyes. Jade and Amber. "Thank you, Po." She whispered. Her eyes glistened with a strange film for a second before vanishing. Tigress stood up, and walked out of the Grotto. The rest of the Five, coming out of meditation, followed suit. Po stood up. "We should probably go and tell Shifu how you guys all did!" Po said enthusiastically. The Five nodded, and they all headed back to the Jade Palace to tell Shifu.

Back at the Palace after Po had recounted what had happened, apart from the conversation held between him and Tigress, Shifu stood, pondering what had transpired. _I'm impressed that Viper and Mantis did well. I expected them to be the best out of the Five at it, and I also expected Tigress to be the worst. She needs to come to terms with the facts of her race and family. I shall have to try and talk to her soon, if Po is unable to help her._ "Everyone, good job. You get the day off, except for Po and Tigress. Po, stay here with me. Tigress, I want you to return and meditate at the Dragon Grotto for the rest of the day, so you can try to make more progress on attaining Inner Peace." Tigress nodded, bowed and moved off. Po, surprised, didn't move. "You want me? Master Shifu?" Suddenly afraid, he took a step back.

"There isn't any need for you to be afraid, Po, you did a good job teaching the Five." He nodded and tapped his staff. "It is time to begin the next phase of your training." Shifu began to walk off. "Where are we going?" Po asked, catching up to him.

"To the pool of Sacred Tears."

"Oh wow, what are we going to do there?"

"You will find out when we get there."

"Oh."

Shifu and Po continued out of the Palace and up the path to the Pool of Sacred Tears.

…..

"Now, Po. What do you know of the mind and consciousness?" Shifu queried of the Dragon Warrior, when they were seated opposite each other at the Pool.

"Well, I know that the mind lets us think things, and eat things, and do things? I think?" Po said, confused as to where this conversation was heading.

"I assume you haven't read any more of the Scrolls of Kung Fu? After Scroll 480?"

"Uhh…No." Po squirmed apologetically. "I tried to sit down and read more but it was too hard! They are too long and boring!"

"If you had sat down and read the scroll 481, you would have read about the secondary existential plane, upon which the consciousness of a being rests." Shifu tapped the ground in front of him, gaze riveted on Po. "Do you think you can see someone's consciousness, Po?"

Po looked skeptical. "No i don't think so.." He tried to grab at his head, and looked at Shifu's closely to se if he could spot the consciousness. _Why is he asking me this? If he says yes you can see somebody's consciousness, I wonder where it could be. I could probably see his if I looked in his ear, I mean they are so big!_ Po's gaze travelled pointedly to Shifu's ears. They twitched.

"If you had read the scroll, you would have found out that yes indeed you can see a being's consciousness. Po. Look at this pebble." Shifu picked up a small pebble and displayed it to the panda. Po stared at it. "Yeah?"

"Imagine this pebble is your mind." He pointed to the water. "Imagine all of those pebbles are other people's minds."

"uh-huh."

 _This explanation obviously is not working._ Shifu tried a different tack. "Close your eyes, Po. Visualise your head. Visualise you are pushing up against the sides of your skull with your mind. Keep pushing. Push until you break through. You will know what I mean when it happens. It may help if you visualise a bowl of dumplings on the rock in front of you, and try to get to it with your mind."

Po opened his eyes. "So wait, you're going to leave me here so I can push at the inside of my own head to get food? Did I hear you right?"

"Yes." Shifu stood up. "Come to the Jade Palace when you are finished." He limped off towards the Palace, leaving Po alone.

Po got into a more comfortable position and leaned against the huge standing rock in the middle of the Pool. He closed his eyes and imagined a tiny version of himself pushing against the walls of his skull, trying to get to the dumplings Shifu mentioned before. He kept pushing for a number of hours, changing positions and the types of food that were on offer on the rock. Eventually, after no success, he decided to focus his entire being into a shard of concentration, and sent it full speed against the side of his skull.

With a sensation of falling into an icy pool, he broke through. Po gasped. _It's like seeing with my eyes closed!_ He could "see", like a huge curtain had fallen away from all around his mind. Instead of the blackness that usually filled his mind and vision when he had his eyes closed, he could "see" bright golden orbs at ground level. At a distance of about a metre around him the orbs faded, and he could not "see" any further in any direction. He opened his eyes and looked down to see what the glowing orbs could have been. They were plants! _I can see the life force of things? Is that what is happening? This is amazing!_ He closed his eyes again and confirmed they were indeed plants. He cast his "gaze" around but could not find anything else. _This is awesome! It's like a whole new sense._ Po jumped up, ecstatic at his discovery and ran back to the Jade Palace, having to stop multiple times on the way because he was too tired.

After arriving back at the Palace, Po ran to Master Shifu and told him of everything that he had seen. Master Shifu had been very impressed but told Po not to tell anyone about this new power. Po had agreed, and then went off to get some lunch.

Now, sitting alone with the dumplings he had made, he turned his mind off the amazing new power he had, and wondered where Tigress was. He had seen Monkey, Viper, Mantis and Crane training at the Training Hall, but no Tigress. Po grabbed his dumpling bowl and went outside. He looked around the grounds, trying to spot Tigress. He suddenly remembered what Shifu had instructed before they had gone to the Pool, that she was meditating at the Dragon Grotto. He face palmed and jogged up the slope to the Grotto.

As he came to the entrance, he saw Tigress standing in the evening light, with her back to him. Her fur shone in the light of the setting sun, the tone of light bringing out the depth of colour in her orange fur. Po gaped. _She is so beautiful._ He thought that even though they would never in a million years become more than friends, just being able to be by her side every day was more than enough to satisfy him for the rest of his life. _As long as I am her friend I'm happy!_ He cleared his throat, and almost faltered when he saw her turn around, the sun making her eyes sparkle. "Hi, Tigress." He held out the bowl. "I thought that you might be hungry, seeing as you've been up here all day." She smiled and gestured for him to go to her. He almost tripped over on the way to her but made it safely and they both sat down a the edge of the Grotto, in the dying light.

"Po, how do you do the Inner Peace sequences?"

"Well you know, keep your arms up, and the shoulders loose." Tigress laughed and punched him playfully on the arm. "Ow!" Po rubbed it and punched her back.

"You know what I mean!" She slouched back and took another dumpling, then popped it into her mouth.

"Well I have to kind of focus on nothing, but everything. If that makes sense? And then I just do the moves. Kinda remove myself but stay in the centre of everything? If you know what I mean?" He looked down at Tigress, who was staring up at him with a bemused expression on her face.

"You sound like Oogway. A thousand different meanings to the things he says, and a thousand different things he could say to any question you could ask of him. Your wisdom is not easy to understand, if you could go as far as to call it wisdom." She laughed again.

Po smiled and held out the dumpling bowl again. Tigress ate almost all of the dumplings, but when she got to the last one she offered it to Po. He refused. She looked at him like he was crazy. _When does Po ever refuse food? Something's gotten into him. Ill figure it out later._ She shrugged and ate the dumpling.

"Do you want to stay here for a little bit more?" Po asked with barely concealed eagerness.

"Sounds like a fine idea to me". Tigress looked up at Po, and moved slightly closer to him. Po smiled back, and leaned down beside her.

They watched the beautiful sun disappear behind the jaded mountains and the Valley of Peace become shrouded in darkness, and then made their way back to the Barracks for the night.

 **Chapter 3 is done! Hope you all like it!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tigress sat up suddenly, in a cold sweat. She looked around her, grasping her blanket while breathing heavily. Slowly her breath settled as she realised she was in the comfort of her own room in the Jade Palace. The nightmare had come again. Her ears drooped. Once again, she had relived the heart wrenching moment when Po had been shot by Shen's cannon. Once again, she heard herself scream "NO!" followed by the explosion and the bast of air that accompanied the cannon ball taking Po with it. Once again, she felt the emptiness inside her, the frozen, shock filled moment stretching into eternity, until Shen's gorillas picked her up and tied her with the others. _I thought we had lost him. I thought I had lost him._ Tigress got up, shivering, and crossed to the door of her room. She put her ear against it and listened, taking in the noises surrounding her. She could hear the muffled, soft breathing of her companions, and then, overlaying it all, the loud, grunting snores of the Dragon Warrior. She sighed. _Thank the gods he is still here._ She shuffled back to her bed and sat down. Once again, as she found herself doing more and more lately, she marvelled at the tenacity of the panda, how he seemed to survive everything that was thrown his way, how he overcame almost every problem just by stumbling through it. He never planned anything out. _And if he says he is, he's lying. Like back in Gongmen Jail when he tried to fool us into thinking he knew what he was doing when he let Shen get away._ Tigress shivered again as she remembered how she stepped completely out of character for those few seconds, and hugged Po. In those few seconds, she realised she didn't want anything to ever happen to the panda that had gone from less than nothing to her, to her best friend. She frowned as she remembered how she had treated Po when he first arrived at the Palace. _I will be making that up to him for the rest of my life. Since then, I've come to realise just how much he means to me._

Tigress laid back again. Sure, possessiveness was part of her nature. She was a tiger, for goodness sake! But she had never been this possessive of anyone or anything before. She had always been possessive of Shifu, always looked out for the Five, but nothing on this scale. She frowned and rubbed her arms together. She marvelled at the fact that before Po, she was nothing. An iron hearted shell that purely focused on Kung Fu, to no exception. Now, since Po had fallen out of the sky and landed right in front of her, and because of this right into the central stage of her life, she had slowly but surely begun to open up. Little by little, she felt the panda wash away all of her defences and pull her out of the very interior of her being, all through his actions and the way he flowed through life. _Like water._ She realised. Water eroded all things of substance, little by little, until it was given passage, and if not, it obliterated everything. Slowly slowly, but it did so nonetheless. _He is an astonishing individual._

Tigress' stomach growled. She glanced down at it, surprised. _Perhaps more of him is rubbing off on me than I thought._ Half a year ago, she never would have thought herself possible of a midnight snack. She began to get up, then remembered she had to watch her figure, and lay back down. She let her mind wander, and the memory of two days ago, when Po brought his dumpling bowl to her while she was meditating came to the forefront of her mind. That really was the first time she had really opened up to him, she thought. Never before had she ever shared a meal with someone like that before. He was just so good to be around, and when she was near him, she observed, the strong feeling of possessiveness became stronger, along with another strange feeling she could not identify. The mystery feeling had become stronger recently, but the first inkling she had of it being apparent was after Po's huge battle with Shen, when he defeated him. As she went forward to help Po out of the water, she had a huge feeling of pride grow within her, as she saw what her best friend had accomplished. The feeling had appeared then. _I shall have to monitor this "feeling". It can't get in the way of my Kung Fu, like I think it may have the other day, when I slipped on the floor of the Training Hall. It cannot happen again, otherwise I will have to come up with a solution, and I have a feeling it will not be enjoyable._ Tigress sighed and looked out of her window. The moon was still high in the sky. _I must get back to sleep. I can't afford to be tired tomorrow._ She let her eyes close while she wrapped her blanket back around her, and drifted off into, hopefully, a nightmare - free sleep.

…..

Po breathed the crisp, pre - dawn air in deeply. He took a bite out of one of his bean buns he had brought with him, on his way to the Peach Tree. Ten minutes ago he had woken up, very unlike him to be up before the gong, but here he was, making his way over to his favourite place to meditate, before even the sun came up. As he trudged up the stone path, he reminisced on the evening, two days ago, that he spent with Tigress. He couldn't believe she had actually agreed to eat there, at the Dragon Grotto. _That was easily the best dinner I have ever had in my life! It was so awesome!_ Po punched the air and twirled around in excitement, but then lost his footing on the path and fell. He rolled down the hill for twenty metres, then stopped himself. Astoundingly he hadn't lost any of the bean buns he was carrying. _Awesome!_ He made his way back up the hill and sat down at the foot of the Peach Tree. He had decided to try the technique Shifu had shown him, where he expanded his mind again. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

Po gathered his thoughts, and focused his entire brain power onto a point in the barrier surrounding his mind. This time, he broke through with a lot less effort. The icy, refreshing feeling enveloped him again. _It feels kinda like a brain freeze, like I got once when I was little and I wanted to see what snow tasted like._ His mind's eye took in the familiar tiny golden orbs in front of him, small grass tufts that littered the area. He suddenly felt an overwhelming presence behind him. He focused his mind's eye and succeeded in expanding his area of focus. He gasped in awe as he found the Peach Tree's life force. The golden orbs of the small plants were like candles against an explosion when compared to the Tree. It was a swirling, billowing mass of gold, almost as bright as the sun when Po had his eyes open. As Po watched, the gold took shape, and, by trying to remember what the Tree looked like when he had his eyes open, Po saw the gold mass form more substantial shapes, he saw it form into streams, which cris - crossed and latticed the invisible trunk of the tree, showing the deep veins and channels that the Tree's life force took to move about. Po realised he had been using all of his concentration to make this out, and it was becoming hard to do so, so he relaxed. The defined streams and paths of the Tree melded back into the swirling mass of gold. He noticed the extremely slow movement of the life force. _Awesome!_ Po brought his thoughts back inside his own mind, and opened his eyes. He felt so excited, he wanted to tell Tigress and the Five about what he could do, but Shifu said not to, which was bad. Suddenly he had a thought. _I wonder what Shifu's Qi looks like? Or Tigress? I'll have to go down and have a look!_ Excited, he jumped up and made his way back to the Jade Palace.

When he arrived, an unusual silence greeted him. Bemused, he looked around the Training Hall. No one was there. He checked the Kitchen. Empty. He made his way to the Barracks and poked his head in. Not a soul was to be found. A quick check of all of the remaining buildings showed nobody was in the Jade Palace. _Where on earth could everyone be? Have I missed something? Shifu probably said something important and I didn't listen._ Cursing himself, Po sat down to think about where his friends could be. The only conceivable place they would be is down in the village, unless they were all on a mission. Po decided to go to check the village. He made his way out of the Jade Palace and down the thousand steps, trying not to trip, but as always, he failed and bounced most of the way down.

When Po got to the bottom of the steps, he noticed a very strong smell had permeated throughout the whole village. _What? *sniff* That smells like *sniff sniff* Dad's Secret Ingredient Soup!_ _He must have made a whole lot of it for it to stink up the whole village like this!_ Po followed his nose down the main village street until he came in sight of his fathers noodle shop. He gasped. At least half the village was packed into the small area and was spilling out onto the main street. He could hear laughter, singing and music in the distance. He started to run towards the shop.

When Po poked his head in, an almost overwhelming sight greeted him. Everyone was packed, shoulder to shoulder in the shop, attempting to slurp up bowls and bowls of Secret Ingredient Soup. There was no room to sit down, and the animals were being pushed and jostled by others every which way. It looked like chaos. In the middle of it all, in the only clear space in the restaurant, besides behind the counter, all of the Furious Five were sitting. The table they were at was sagging under the combined weight of all of the dishes that Mr Ping had placed there for their enjoyment. Po grinned and slowly made his way through the crowd, with many "Excuse me's" "A thousand pardons" and "Sorry's!" Eventually he got to the table, where all of the Five were beaming at him, and gesturing him to the only vacant seat, which happened to be next to Tigress. Monkey gestured at it "We saved that for you. Glad you could find us! I bet it wasn't hard." He gestured to the villagers surrounding the table. "What are they doing here?" Asked Po.

"They all wanted to see the famous Dragon Warrior perform his noodle dance!" Monkey clapped his hands with glee, while the rest of the Five chuckled.

"Excuse me? I don't have a noodle dance." Po stared at Monkey with his mouth open. He looked around at the villagers, who had gone quiet and were waiting expectantly. "What is my noodle dance?" He whispered to Monkey out of the side of his mouth.

"Don't ask me! It's your dance! Now get up and dance, everyone came here to see it!" Monkey gestured to Po to stand. Po stood, muttering under his breath. "Well?" Monkey said expectantly.

"Well I need some accompaniment, how about you provide some singing, Monkey?" Po grinned evilly at him. _If I'm going down, I'm bringing you with me._ Monkey gulped and looked nervously around the table. The rest of the Five now looked expectantly at him. He slowly stood up. "Well?" Po mimicked. Monkey cleared his throat and Po got ready to dance.

In a high pitched warble, Monkey started singing. "Noodle, noodle noodle, noodle noodle, noodle dance! Noodle, noodle noodle, noodle noodle, noodle dance!" Po looked at him with an incredulous expression as if to say "is that the best you can do?" He shrugged and began to dance. He began a quick two step jive that sent him careening around the table, the villagers pressing more tightly together to make room for him. Po continued around the table, surreptitiously picking up some of the bowls that were on the table and passing them out into the crowd as he danced. This made the crowd applaud, as who could say no to free noodles? After two more circuits of the table, Po finished dancing and bowed to more resounding applause. Both him and Monkey resumed their seats. Monkey's face was like a beetroot. Mantis chuckled. "I never knew you could sing, Monkey! Although you did sound a lot like Crane after he has hay fever!" Mantis did an impression of Monkey, and they all laughed. Po brought back the attention of the group to the issue at hand, the bowls of noodle soup. "Have you guys eaten yet?"

"No, we wanted to wait for you." Tigress looked at him with a small smile. "Also, your dad has something for you, you might want to go in the back and have a look." With that, Po stood up, and went into the back of the restaurant. As he opened the door, a feathery ball launched itself at him. "Po! It's good to see you son!" Mr Ping hugged Po tightly. "Thinner than ever, I see! You are going to have to eat a lot of my soup, son!" Mr Ping turned, waddled off to the counter and began chopping some more vegetables.

"It's good to see you too, Dad." Po looked around, the shop looked the same as ever. "Dad, Tigress said you had something for me?" Mr Ping turned around, and gestured upstairs to Po's room with his knife. "You might want to go have a look, son." He smiled at Po, then turned his attention to the chopping board. Po turned and walked up the stairs to his room. He thought to himself eagerly. _I wonder what it is? Maybe It's a super awesome new action figure, maybe it's a weapon that I can use to defeat all of my enemies!_ He mimed slashing around a pretend weapon. Smiling, he poked his head into the opening, tapping his feet on the floor excitedly. After a moment, his grin faded. There looked like there was nothing different about his room. He quickly walked in, scanning all of the surfaces, looking for what his dad had left. His eyes went to the posters on the walls, his action figures lined up in the window. He checked under the bed. Nothing. Po straightened and scratched the back of his head. _Where on earth could Dad have left whatever it is I am supposed to find?_ He moved to the window and looked out. His hand bumped something on the sill. He glanced down, and noticed his Tigress action figure had come dangerously close to the window, and was wobbling from where he hit it with his hand. His eyes went wide. Quickly he reached out and snatched it up, checking it for any blemish or scratch. Noticing it was a bit dusty, he began to brush it down with his finger.

"Po." Po spun around, one finger still firmly planted on the last place he had brushed, in this case, the action figure's rear. Tigress was standing in the doorway, one hand on the frame of the door. Her expression went from a smile to one of shock as she took in Po's finger placement on her action figure. "Tigress! It's not what you think! I was just, uh, cleaning." His innocent face stared at her, pleadingly, as he held out the doll to display the streaks of dust. Tigress nodded and inwardly giggled. She looked into his large green eyes and studied them. "Uh, Tigress?" She shook herself out of her momentary lapse. "Po." She smiled again. "It's alright". She motioned for him to put down the action figure and to sit on the bed. He complied. She took a deep breath and composed her thoughts. "Po, your Dad didn't leave anything for you up here, I asked him before you got here to tell you to come up, so I can talk to you in private." Po leaned back on the bed and stared up at her face with a confused expression. "Okay…" He twiddled his thumbs.

"This is important. Shifu asked me to tell you this, without anyone else around because - " She leaned in closer to him. " - There could be a eyes and ears everywhere, and this must be kept secret." Po's eyes widened. He nodded silently, waiting for Tigress to continue. "You and I must leave. Tomorrow. Shifu wants us to investigate a group of murders in Haijin Province. Remember that place? You've been there before, right? So you can help us get in and out without being seen." At this, Po's stomach sank. He remembered how he had told about his escapade in Haijin Province, when he called all the bandits there lousy tippers. _I can't believe she still remembers that! She must have told Shifu, and now they are relying on me! I can't say I haven't really been there, because I haven't, I made that story up. They'll get mad! And wait, I'll be with Tigress for ages! It's at least two weeks there and back! That will be so awesome!_ "Yep, I know Haijin Province like the back of my paw! I'll sneakity sneak in and out of there and no one will know! Stealth Mode!"

"Maybe not Stealth Mode, this time Po, you know what happened last time." Tigress smiled again as she reminisced about the panda's clumsy attempt at being quiet and stealthy. "Excellent, also, tomorrow remain as if nothing is different, and I will come to collect you at midnight from you room. Be sure to be awake! And have all of your bags packed before then so we can leave without creating attention!" She warned, glaring at Po. "This is a very important mission, we can't jeopardise it in any way. ANY way, you understand?" She turned around and went to the door. _I don't think I've missed telling him anything, have I?_ She mentally went through the conversation again, making sure everything she needed to say had been said. While this was going on, Po had been staring at her, mouth slightly open with a vacant expression on his face. _That's the second time this week he's done that! Maybe Shifu's right, I should teach him to concentrate more._ Tigress hadn't told Po that Shifu wanted her to teach Po about her style of Kung Fu, and that she should practice his, or that he found it wise for Tigress to ask for Po to help her with her Inner Peace while on the mission. She found it to be a logical idea, but was not looking forward to the hours that she would have to try and make the panda concentrate, who, when placed in front of a situation that didn't involve food or friends, had the attention span of a goldfish. She mentally shrugged. _It will be a challenge, like Shifu said. And I love challenges._ "Po, come back down, and we can finish lunch." This startled the panda out of his revere, and he hastily stood up and began following her down the restaurant steps and out into the main courtyard.

The Five were still seated around the table, and had finished off the majority of the bowls of food placed down for them. Po's eyes lit up as he realised that they had left one of his favourite dishes, the bean buns, for him! He sped up and accidentally shouldered past tables of villagers, apologising profusely while trying to get to the dish before it disappeared. He made it up to Tigress, and then followed, directly behind her, hopping from one foot to each other because he didn't want to take the chance to push past her for fear of what she would do. When she eventually reached the table, he ran around and slid into his seat with a contented sigh, and began devouring the bean buns.

…..

Shifu stared at the multitude of candles in front of him, sputtering in the darkness of the Hall of Warriors. He had taken to balancing on top of Oogway's staff by the side of the Dragon Pool, as the position reminded him of his master. He wondered how his master would have taken on this new threat. He knew that this string of murders was related to another three string of murders, committed over 15 years ago. He had a gut feeling, and knew that these latest victims had been dismembered in the same fashion as the previous victims. _Nowhere near one hundred percent certain, but I always trust my instincts._ He thought about this decision on sending both Po and Tigress on the mission. Hopefully they would use the time together to sort out their growing affections for each other, which had become apparent, to Shifu, if no one else, and if he wasn't mistaken, to the two warriors themselves. Shifu marvelled at how an individual could be practically staring a relationship, emotion or idea in the face and still not realise that it was possible for them to accept or be part of such a thing. He thought back ruefully to his time with Mei Ling. That had gone much the same way. He smiled as he remembered the many days he spent at various places in the grounds of the Jade Palace, whiling away the time with the person he had come to trust the most out of anyone, besides Oogway, the person who trusted him back, and even loved him. _Yes, it will be good for the two of them to be together for a time, and hopefully they can get their fuddled emotions figured out, at least on Tigress' side. Po, clearly, has figured out his feelings towards her but has no idea it could ever be reciprocated by anyone, much less her._ He had given a lot of thought the past few days to his own relationship with Tigress, and how he found it exceedingly difficult to talk to her one on one as a father to his daughter, every time he attempted he would turn himself away, and put it off till later, where it would hang over his head until he rejected it again and again in a vicious cycle.

So, he had decided to act behind the scenes in the one way that he could see would bring his daughter lasting happiness, and help her out of her iron shell. Even though he would never tell Po, Shifu believed he was the best person to be with his daughter. He remarked how the two were polar opposites, he, soft, both inside and out, with a voracious appetite and personality, how he needed to be in the centre of attention all the time. Outgoing. She, on the other hand, quiet, reserved, hard, always out of the main picture, until she was needed, like any good Kung Fu Master should be. _Yes, they would do well together. With both of them so closely bound, and with complementing Kung Fu styles, anyone in the whole of China would hard pressed to stop them._ Shifu straightened and flipped off the tip of Oogway's staff, then paced towards the edge of the candles he had set up. With a powerful two handed push, he used his Qi to blow out all of the candles.

Left shrouded in darkness, he again pondered the situation. _Yes, Polar Opposites…. Almost like Yin and Yang…._

 **Ok, thats Chapter 3 done. So this chapter I really wanted to focuse on the status of the relationship between Tigress and Po, just to flesh it out more, I guess? It's mainly a filler but don't worry, more humour and action to come, so stay tuned!**

 **I hope all of you liked it, I'm a bit sick so I was finding it difficult to write. I hope it's up to scratch! Please remember to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Remind me why we didn't want you in the Jade Palace, Po? I can't believe any of us ever doubted you! I mean this is just so good! If you keep feeding us like this, we are definitely going to get fat!" Viper held one of Po's new dumplings, filled with a mixture of garlic, mushrooms and carrots, up to the afternoon light that was spilling through the window of the Jade Palace Kitchen. "I don't think I would be able to handle it if you and your cooking abilities left us, even for a day!" She chowed down on the dumpling happily. Po, who had been about to laugh and thank Viper, suddenly had a nervous expression. "Of course, Viper." He laughed haltingly. "Me, leaving? That would be terrible. Thank goodness it will never ever happen! Yep, I'll always be here, making your food and doing Dragon Warriorey stuff, no doubt about that! I won't leave, especially to go on a secret mi -". He was cut off by Tigress who stood up and said hurriedly, "thank you for the meal, Po, didn't you like the meal everyone? I liked the meal". She nodded with a fixed smile on her face, staring around the table, trying to draw everyone's attention away from Po, who was becoming even more nervous by the second. Everyone around the table stared at her and Po, from one to the other with open mouths and confused expressions. "Uhhh, Monkey?" Po whispered, nervousness temporarily forgotten. Monkey snapped out of his stare. "Yeah?" Po gestured vaguely upward to his own mouth. Monkey, bemused, stared at him until he noticed the others were giggling at him. "What? What is it?" He glanced around, his eyes coming to rest on the polished metal bowl in the corner. He slid out of his chair and rushed over to it, trying to spot his reflection. He checked his mouth. "Ohhhhh!" He had spotted his tooth, which looked like it was in a sleeping bag made out of bok choy. He stuck his finger in his mouth and tried to fish it out, while everyone else giggled.

Tigress, using this distraction as a good chance to get Po out of the situation, got up and grabbed Po's arm, signaling for him to follow her. He complied, and they moved out of the kitchen, down the hall and outside to the barracks. As Po moved into the shade of the Barracks doorway, Tigress stepped up to him, put out her hand and pushed him into the wall. "What in all of the gods' name were you thinking!" She glared at him as she pushed her face up close to his. Po whimpered. "You could have given the whole plan away! You had no need to say what you did! You could have just played it off, but no! Po, sometimes you don't think before you speak and it is going to get us into a lot of trouble someday!" Her gaze bored into his. She stepped back and crossed her arms, fuming silently.

Po looked down at his feet. "Sorry, Tigress." He said in a small voice. "I try, but I get nervous and that makes it hard for me to act believable. I'm not very good with lying or keeping secrets." He raised his eyes pleadingly to meet Tigress', and he could see the anger quickly fade in her eyes.

Tigress sighed. _He is so naive. Like a big, black and white fluffy child. If I am going to be baby sitting him and helping him through every step of the way on this mission I will not be a happy tiger by the end of it. Still, I can't stay mad at him for long, look at him, with his big, green puppy dog eyes. He is just too… cute?_ Tigress was shocked. Where on earth had that word sprung from. _Cute? Puppy dog eyes? What on earth has gotten into me today? Po, cute? NO way._ She shook herself mentally, denying it. _Just a second ago I was angry with him, and now?_ She realised suddenly she had been staring at Po, who was waiting, scared, for her reply. "It's okay, Po. I understand. We all make mistakes. If you work on this drawback of yours you will eventually overcome it. I can help, if you would like." _Why am I offering to spend even more time with him than I already am?_

Po's eyes lit up. "Thanks so much Tigress! That would be amazing if you could help, oh yeah! Awesome!" Po's smile fell as he looked out the door over Tigress' shoulder, and noticed the failing light. "Tigress, we have to pack!"

The tiger rolled her eyes. "Po, I told you to pack early, yesterday! You can't tell me you've been sitting around all day with plenty of time to make use of the situation, and you haven't done anything?" Po nodded, eyes downcast, suddenly scared again. Tigress reigned in her growing anger.

"Okay, go pack now, then. You still have enough time." She turned to leave.

"Wait, Tigress, can you help me please, Dad usually packs my bags when I go to see him, but this morning when I went to visit him he was too busy so…" His voice trailed off. He looked at her hopefully, as well as somewhat apologetically. Tigress hit her head against the wall.

 _He is sooo like a child!_ "Okay, Po, I'll help. Lets go." Resignedly leading the way, she walked to Po's room and pushed open the door. It was a mess. A host of empty bowls lay strewn everywhere, his bed was crooked, pillow across the room, multiple spare pairs of pants exactly the same to the ones Po was wearing right now were thrown higgledy piggledy around the room. _I hope those are clean._ There was Kung Fu memorabilia littered on every surface, and she could have sworn there was a long noodle dangling from the ceiling supports. "You do realise you live inside a giant Kung Fu museum, Po. Aren't those kind of, unnecessary?" She asked, while gesturing to the memorabilia.

"I don't think so, I enjoy having them in here. I recite all of the stories belonging to them before I go to bed. It helps me sleep." Po grinned earnestly at her from behind her. He crossed to the bed and sat down.

Tigress became aware of a strong aroma in the room. She sniffed. _It smells…_ She sniffed again. _Good? Sort of musky, but sweetish? What is it, and why is it in Po's room?_ She quested through around the room, trying to pinpoint this smell. Eventually she came up behind Po and leaned over him to try and smell the noodle hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly she realised as she smelt it directly below her nose, that it was Po's scent. She moved suddenly away from the top of his head. She felt her cheeks reddening, and was glad that Po was facing away from her, and that she had orange fur. _Why am I blushing? Must be because I am embarrassed that I haven't noticed his scent before after being in close proximity with him for so long. That must be the reason. It really doesn't smell THAT good to me._ She was lying to herself, and she knew it. Po's scent drifted up into her nostrils again. She blushed a second time. After Tigress furiously waited for it to subside, she walked around to face Po again. Po was looking at her as if she had gone mad. "Did you find what you were smelling for? You were certainly getting into it! Did it smell nice? I can't smell it." He gave two big sniffs himself, and shook his head. Tigress struggled to suppress another blush.

"Uh, no, Po. I didn't find it." To change the subject, she hurriedly added, "So, where's your bag? Let's get all of your stuff together." Po got up from his bed and went over to the small cabinet. He brought out a medium sized wicker bag. He put it down in front of Tigress.

"You know, I heard that in other countries, they use sheep skin and turn them into these bags." Po confided in Tigress. He thought it an interesting, if a bit disgusting, bit of trivia. Repulsed, Tigress looked down at the bag and imagined a sheep being spread out over the outside of it, complete with expressions of terror and pleading. She looked up at Po. "We would never do anything that barbaric here!" She screwed up her face, still imagining a poor sheep being turned into a bag. _My god! That's horrible!_ "Come on, Po, get your stuff ready and throw it in the bag."

Po looked up at her from the bed, where he went to sit again. Almost afraid to admit it, he said quietly "Tigress, I don't know what to take. Should I bring, like, a toothbrush? All my spare pants? My action figures? Food? Can't forget food! - " His eyes brightened as he thought of new things to bring. "-And I'll bring my blanket and mat and I want to find a hat like Crane wears, I lost the one I had at Gongmen. Pity, that was a good hat." He paused to remember such an important addition to his wardrobe, may it rest in peace. Wherever it was.

Tigress smiled down at Po while he rambled on and made his list, and then when he went to get all his things, she picked out all of the unnecessary things he had brought and put them in a separate pile, that would remain behind. Po kicked up a fuss at some of the things that she had chosen.

"Are you sure I can't take my action figures?"

"Yes, Po. They have to stay here, they will cause unnecessary distractions if you take them."

"Please? Pretty Please? I'll make you spicy Tofu! Your favourite!"

"No, Po. And not your collection of famous Kung Fu master's seals either. How did you even get those, anyway?" Po broke off on a long winded story about how, whenever he met a Kung Fu master, he would wait until they were asleep and reach into their bag to steal their seal, then he would quickly run to a wood carver, get the seal reproduced perfectly, and returned every seal back to their owners in the nick of time, just before they woke up. Tigress suspected he had gotten them from a shoddy trinket seller in town. She was right.

Eventually Tigress sat down on Po's bed and let his ramblings and stories wash over her as watched him move about the room. She found it bearable, even enjoyable to sit here and listen to him talk, she even found it quite relaxing. She put her hands out behind her and leaned back on them. _If he had done this half a year ago I would have been the first person to tell him to shut up._ She let Po's scent, which was much stronger here, on his bed than anywhere else in his room, fill her nose. She became slightly drowsy, and felt very cosy and warm. All of a sudden, a strange sensation started in the base of her throat, and began to work its way up to her mouth. Before she could stop herself, a small purr slipped out. She sat up straight. Alarmed.

"Tigress? Did you say something?" Po had turned around and paused his small rant about whether baby cucumbers tasted better than fully grown ones. Tigress was in shock. Again. _I haven't purred since I was three years old! I promised myself I wouldn't. Shifu didn't find it appropriate for a Kung Fu master in training to purr. What am I doing? And why did I purr? Why did I feel so nice in that position, on Po's bed? It felt so warm. What is happening to me? What is going on?_ With growing panic, the warmth of twenty seconds ago disappeared. She stood up quickly, shocking the panda.

"Sorry, Po. I have to go… somewhere. I'll see you later. Keep packing your bag! I'll be at dinner." With that she turned on her heel and briskly walked out of Po's room. She blindly walked across the corridor and groped for her own door. She went inside, closed the door and sat down on her bed. _What is happening to me?_ She stared down at her hands. They shook slightly. She felt like she was losing control over her own body, something she had held in check with iron determination for as long as she could remember, almost as long as she had been alive. Even her mind was turning against her. _I need to talk to_ someone. Even that had changed. She never used to want to talk about her feelings to anyone. She always dealt with it herself, keeping the issue bottled up until it eventually exploded and forced her to destroy the Training Hall in order to cope with it. It felt like like she was losing control of her very soul. Her breathing became short and ragged, and she gripped her thighs between her hands. _I need someone. Or something. Now._ Po sprang to mind. She shoved the thought away. _No. Not Po. He is the last person I need right now. I wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for him._ She tilt her head back and bared her teeth. _Who? Who is there to talk to? Who can I trust enough… Viper! of course!_ Tigress had considered Viper as a sister from when Viper had first arrived at the Jade Palace. Before Shifu had intervened and stopped Tigress from participating, the two used to hold midnight slumber parties with food and they used to play shadow puppets with their hands, or in Viper's case, her body. They used to talk about everything important to two children in the height of their innocence. Tigress used to love Viper's shadow puppets, they looked so alien and different because of her long, coiling body.

Tigress brought her mind back to the present. She stood up, and rushed outside to try and find Viper. She barrelled down the hallway until she reached Viper's room. Just before she barged in the room, she restrained herself, realising just in time that such a thing was not polite, and knocked with a trembling hand. She focused on her raised paw, willing it to stop trembling. After a moment, it subsided. Suddenly, the door cracked open.

Viper had been curled up in the middle of her bed, sunning herself in the what was left of the afternoon sun when she heard a strange commotion from down the hallway. She thought nothing of it, because, after living with Po for so long, unusual commotions like the one she had just witnessed were daily occurrences. However, a few minutes later a short, abrupt knock had sounded on her door frame. Unamused at having to leave the perfect position she had placed herself in to soak up as much sun as she possibly could, she was not inclined to go to the door and answer. But answer she did, and was met with the strange sight of Tigress with her paw up in front of her, angrily staring at it. "Uh, Tigress? Are you alright?" Viper asked, concerned, her peevishness about the sun long forgotten. She saw Tigress' eyes focus sharply.

"Viper, I have to come in. Please." Her eyes begged, practically pleaded at Viper to let her inside. Viper, seeing immediately how distressed Tigress was, knew how important this conversation would turn out to be. She had never ever seen Tigress this distressed, except for the horrible day where they all thought Po had been killed. _That was such a terrible time, and it hit Tigress harder than anyone else._ Making this connection, Viper assumed the following conversation would be about Po. Suddenly alarmed, she wondered if Po was hurt, or worse. Putting this aside, just for the moment, she motioned for Tigress to come inside with a flick of her tail.

Tigress needed no further prompting. She staggered past Viper and collapsed to her bed, shaking. Viper slithered up to her and stroked the top of her head tenderly with her tail. "What's wrong, Tigress? Is anyone hurt? Is Po?"

"Yes! It's Po! -" At this point Viper hissed, looking alarmed. She almost went to the door to head to Po's room to see what had happened. "-But he isn't hurt". Viper relaxed slightly, and lowered her head down to Tigress' eye level.

"So you're hurt?" Viper looked at Tigress with a caring expression, waiting for her reply.

"No. I'm no hurt. Maybe I am. It's me, but it's not me, it's Po. It's me, not Po, it's always me -" at this point, Tigress' voice began to get louder and more panicked, she almost sounded manic. "I am destroying myself. I don't understand anything anymore. I DON'T KNOW!" At this last, shouted remark, all of the feelings of hurt, pain, anger at herself, anger at Po, hopelessness, confusion and frustration boiled over and Tigress closed her eyes and whimpered, while a single tear squeezed out from under her eyelid, and slowly rolled down her face, leaving a glistening track mark in her orange and black fur. She brushed it away angrily and began losing what little control she had left over herself. She had cried? Her. Master Tigress had shed a tear? Her hatred and fear of herself increased tenfold as she found yet another thing her body had taken from her.

Viper was shocked, and slightly scared. she had never seen Tigress lose control like this, and never had she seen such an open display of emotion from her. Not even when Po had "died". She had come close to tears then, but had always managed to hold them back. "Tigress! Calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Remember your training. Calm down. You are not destroying yourself. Tell me what's wrong, I can help you, I'm always here for you." She resumed her stroking of Tigress' soft fur on top of her head. Tigress slowly began to quieten and stopped whimpering. Viper watched as Tigress slowly, with increasing speed locked up her emotions inside her iron hard shell. Eventually, after waiting silently, stroking her fur, for ten minutes, Tigress spoke.

"Viper, I can't control myself anymore. I am physically and mentally doing strange things, things I haven't done since a toddler. I have a encountered a new emotion that I can't explain. Po has changed things in me, he changes the way I think, and act. All the time, the emotion is present. I try to suppress it but it never works. It gets worse when I am away from Po. Viper, what is wrong with me?"

Viper smiled as Tigress finished talking. So this is what she, finally had come to speak to her about. She knew it had been about Po, and loved the fact that Tigress had finally sought her out about it, as she knew she would. She did not however plan on Tigress being so distraught, that it really was so hard for her to comprehend such new desires and urges from her own body. Somehow, Viper understood, at least a little what it would be like to no longer have control over something you had kept under iron hard obedience and servitude for as long as you can remember. She thought for a moment, and then brought her considerable knowledge about relationships to bear. She decided to start off slowly. "Tigress, do you feel possessive around Po?"

Tigress frowned. "Yes, I do. I've been becoming steadily more and more possessive, especially in the last few weeks."

Viper slapped her tail on a coil of her body, in the closest approximation of a clap of joy she could muster. This was definitely going in the direction she had hoped. "Do you feel nice when you're with Po? Do you think about him a lot?"

"Yes…" Tigress nodded, feeling uncomfortable as she shared these secrets.

"I know he has brought you more out of your shell since he arrived here, hasn't he? Especially at Gongmen. Tigress, did it feel nice to hug Po? And did it feel nice for him to hug you?"

Tigress nodded yes to all of these questions as Viper phrased them, confused as to how Viper knew so much.

"Did it feel… right? Like you didn't want to be in any place in the world, other than his arms? Was this mystery emotion strongest then?" Viper leaned forwards, continuing to talk and help Tigress through her muddled feelings and emotions.

"Yes, it did, to tell you the truth." She admitted reluctantly. _How did she phrase it so perfectly? That is exactly how I felt._ "Yes again, Viper. The emotion was very strong then." She still wasn't used to explaining her feelings at all, and so was reduced to small, one syllable answers or awkward sentences.

"Tigress, do you care for Po?"

"Yes, I care for him. I care for you too, and the rest of the Five."

"But you care for him differently than you care for us, don't you."

Tigress shrugged, awkwardly. "I guess I do, but I just don't know! He makes me feel…differently. I suppose". She looked at Viper, confusion still written in her eyes.

Viper thought she could practically see the cogs turning in Tigress' brain as she figured out the daunting problem facing her. "Tigress, you've never liked, loved or felt attracted to a male before, have you?" She phrased it as a question, but she knew the answer already.

"No, I haven't!" Tigress looked affronted. "Why would you -" Her eyes widened suddenly as she realised what Viper was implying. "-Oh no, you cannot be serious!" Viper watched as everything seemed to fall in place, her happy expression tinged with apprehension as to how Tigress would take the truth.

"Me? I feel attracted towards Po? You have got to be joking!" Tigress burst out laughing, more of a release of all the pent up tension and stress she had been feeling in the past few minutes rather than she actually found the situation amusing. She stood up, not displaying the thundering emotions running through her body at the thought of her having feelings towards Po. "Thank you for listening to my outburst, Viper. I apologise for disturbing you, however I think your idea is ludicrous! Now, if you will excuse me." Tigress did her best to sound distant and formal, slightly ashamed at her public display of emotions, even though it was to her oldest friend. She turned and walked softly out of the room, her tail twitching behind her.

Viper sat on her bed and rolled her eyes. _She will have to face it, eventually._ She turned her gaze longingly to her bed to seek out the patch of sun that had been so quickly disappearing before Tigress interrupted. To her dismay, it was gone, replaced by the grey tones of dusk. She rolled her eyes again and sniffed in annoyance. Muttering to herself, she curled up on her bed and waited for the gong to sound for dinner.

 **Ok Chapter 4 is done and dusted, I'm really sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I have exams on at the moment so I had way less time to write. The start of the journey will happen next chapter, so stay tuned for some action! If you are enjoying the story so far, please drop a review or a follow!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tigress sat on her bed, heart pounding. _What if what Viper had implied was true? What if I do have feelings for Po? That I like him more than a friend? Is that really what this feeling is?_ She found it hard to believe, but the thought of her and Po together seemed sort of, … _nice?_ She let her muddled feelings roam for a moment before a knock at her door shook her out of her stupor. The creak of a floorboard outside alerted to her who was standing outside. Her heartbeat tripled and she felt a flutter of nervousness. Slowly, she stood up, frowning, and, slightly angry with herself, crossed to the door.

…..

Po felt shocked and slightly sad when Tigress had run out of his room. His first reaction to her hurried exit was think that maybe he had said something to upset her, maybe he had rambled on too far about the strange stain he had discovered on the hem of his pants the week before, the one he had forgotten about but that suddenly began appearing on every pair of pants he owned, gradually over the course of a week, then had suddenly all vanished at once. _Maybe she didn't want to know that… I do get a bit distracted sometimes I guess._ He let his worried thoughts escalate into a spiral of _what if_ 's and _oh dears_ until the tension and anxiety built up within him and he stamped his foot to try and release it. There was a loud crack and a whimper from Po as his foot shot clean through the fragile floorboards of his room and he was forced, belly first and off balance, into the floor. He rolled his eyes. _It can't be that bad! I'm just over thinking!_ Po seemed to be doing a lot of "over" things lately. Over-eating and over-doing things being the chief among them. _It's probably that she just, I don't know… forgot to pack something?_ This excuse sounded pitifully weak, even in Po's eyes. He shrugged. Grunting, he pulled himself out of the hole he created and eyed it with distaste. He turned and opened his door quietly, just making out the shadow of a lying form on a bed inside Tigress' room, thrown into relief against the rice paper wall by the candlelight. He stepped forwards and knocked.

The door opened after a short few seconds. Po's eyes, adjusting to the candlelight saw nothing, then two bright amber eyes drifted into focus right in front of him. "Uh.. Hi!". He looked at Tigress. An awkward silence permeated the room for a second before the amber eyes blinked. "Come in, Po".

Po stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. He turned around to face the tiger. She was standing in the middle of the room, with a peculiar expression on her feline features. Her tail twitched behind her. "Tigress, are you alright?"

"Oh yes Po just fine!" The reply came extremely quickly and sounded very rushed. Tigress grimaced inside. Po looked perplexed. "Well, if thats the case…" His urge to speak to Tigress about why she had left the room died within him. This situation was becoming quite awkward, even more awkward than usual and that was saying something. "I'll just, go then. See you at midnight, Tigress!" With a somewhat forced and uncharacteristic smile Po turned on his heel and headed for the door. He turned around as he pulled it open. Tigress was still standing exactly where he left her, with the same expression on her face. With one, confused look he stepped out and closed the door, then continued into his room. Po flopped on the bed. This was extremely confusing. _I have never in my life seen Tigress act this way. Must be secret mission nerves._ He brightened. That had to be it! How often would Tigress get to go on a SECRET mission? Not very often, he wagered. With a considerably lighter mind, he drifted off to sleep almost instantly.

…..

On the other side of the hallway, Tigress sat, clasping her legs to her chest on her bed. She was frowning, staring intently at the wall. _This is ridiculous._ Her emotions were running riot and sending confused thought spirals throughout her brain. Turning around to face the wall, she decided that her best bet of dealing with her thoughts and emotions, was to put it aside for now, and deal with it later. This was a very uncharacteristic thing for her to do, and it reminded her unnaturally of something Po would do. _Enough of thinking about Po. I've had enough of him for one day._ With a disgruntled huff, she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take her.

…..

"Po."

*snore* "5 more minutes, Dad, the noodles are almost ready…"

"Po!"

"I love tofu!"

"PO!" Tigress roared, this time held her mouth close to Po's ear.

"AAAAH!" Po started awake and jumped up with an almighty crash. "Shhhhhh. Po! You are going to wake everyone up with that racket!" Tigress hissed at him.

"Me? Racket? What about you, screaming in my ear! If the rest of the Five didn't hear that I'm a monkey's uncle!"

A soft and sleepy "oh, please no", followed by a loud snore emanated from Monkey's room as he sleep talked. The timing was too perfect. Po let out a loud giggle. Tigress rolled her eyes. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she hissed again. "Quick, pick up your things and let's go! We have to be towards the end of the Bamboo forest by morning!" Po groaned and with a huge heave, shouldered his bulging pack. Tigress looked him over, seeing if he was ready. A large, goofy expression faced her. Smiling inwardly, she headed towards the door of the barracks.

As they slipped out of the barracks without detection they came to the top of the Jade Palace steps. Tigress held out an arm to stop Po from falling down. His belly bumped against her arm as he stopped. "What is it?" Po asked, squinting around. Tigress had forgotten that Po's night vision was not as good as hers, and, after leaving the candlelit barracks outer chamber his eyes still had not adjusted to the pitch black outside. She made a note of this. "Po, if you took one more step forwards, you'd bounce all the way down to the village again. Do you want to do that?" She saw his eyes widen in surprise. He shook his head vigorously. She rolled her eyes. Po gave her a nod after a minute to show that he could finally see. The two headed down the Jade Palace steps, Tigress slightly behind Po and holding on to his pack in case he happened to stumble and fall, which had a real chance of happening.

The two made it to the bottom of the stairs surprisingly without incident. Po, puffing at this point, held up his hand for a break. "Po, we can't stop now and you know it. Not while we are in the village, anyone can see us. We have to travel through as quickly as possible. Now come on!" Tigress quipped slightly more distantly and a lot more formally than usual as her mind was engrossed on the task at hand. Po, noticing this and understanding the reason behind her unusual tone, paid it no heed, and grudgingly began a fast jog through the city, following the wake of Tigress.

They travelled through the village without a hitch, Po pausing to look at the darkened shop front that used to be his home. He could barely hear his fathers snores from his room. He longed to go inside it and tell his father what he was about to do, on account of him being unable to see him for such a long time, the longest period of extended absence since Gongmen. Tigress looked at him with understanding, but shook her head apologetically. "Sorry, Po. We can't alert anyone to our absence. You'll see Mr Ping soon, don't worry." She stepped forward and took his paw in hers, pulling him away from the shop. Po was surprised at her gesture. He gave her hand a quick squeeze, then let go and continued away with her, as they jogged out of the village, and from there, out of the Valley of Peace.

From after leaving the valley, they continued on up the main road for a _li_ before running off the road and into the forest on the side. Tigress insisted upon this so as to make it harder for anyone to track or spot them, if someone happened to be on a late night stroll in the middle of the inter provincial highway. Po grumbled at this but accepted it. He was reminded, as he found himself being every mission he went on with Tigress, how much wisdom and practicality she possessed. Even basic practical sense, what most would consider common sense was sometime lost on Po. But he learned to cope with it and accepted that he had flaws, but also talents. A good sense of direction and stealth abilities were two attributes he fell extremely short on.

After travelling along the forest for another 10 _li_ , Tigress beckoned to Po to a fairly concealed track which led, she assured him, deep into the heart of the bamboo forest. Po stared at the entrance. The dark swathes of bamboo lining the track rustled and clacked in the wind. It looked very dark and a not altogether enticing place. However, the real problem was something much deeper. "Uh, Tigress…" She turned and looked at him inquisitively. "I… I'm not too comfortable with going in there right now". Tigress' eyes widened.

"Why not, Po? you've been in there countless times before, what's so different about it now?" She was alarmed. Something that worried the panda and caused him this much distress was not seen very often, so it must have been something very bad.

Po remembered to himself, the nightmares he had been having a number of weeks ago about the bamboo forest. He could not remember the exact detains of the nightmare, but it was always the same, recurring one. It instilled such a feeling of fear in him as he woke up sweating after each one, barely managing to stop himself from crying out. This same fear was awake in him now, and all of his instincts were screaming at him to stay away, at least for the rest of the night. "Tigress, I really, really don't think its a good idea if we go in there tonight. Aside from.. well… what's bothering me, I have a bad feeling about it. He eyed the entrance apprehensively again. "Would it be okay if we stopped here? And maybe, go into the forest tomorrow?". Po pleaded, a scared look in his eye.

Tigress stared at him, thinking over the pros and cons of staying outside the forest. On one hand, they would lose a lot of valuable time, the bamboo forest was quite large and it would be best for them to get through it as soon as possible. On the other hand, it was a very good place to be ambushed, especially at night, and if Po's intuition was telling him it was a bad idea, Tigress was prepared to listen to her friend, and wait out the rest of the night. Of which, she realised as she glanced at the sky, there was only a couple of hours left. "Po, we will stay here for the night then. It will be for the best, you're right. We will begin again first thing in the morning. I will take the watch for tonight." She turned and grasped Po's shoulder with an encouraging expression. She dropped her pack on the ground some metres back from the entrance to the forest, and sat down in the lotus position, her eyes dancing, covering the whole clearing they were in in a series of movements, making sure they were completely safe.

Po looked with a rush of affection at his friend, thanking her silently for the decision she had made for his benefit. He set down his pack, lay out his bedroll next to Tigress and lay down. He turned to look at her. "Thanks, Tigress." He said. She turned and looked down at him, her amber eyes glowing in the moonlight. The corners of her lips lifted slightly into the beginnings of a smile. "It's alright Po, I understand. Goodnight." Po stared into her eyes deeply for a moment, as she looked back. A shiver passed through Po suddenly. He lowered his eyes, closed them and waited for sleep to claim him.

…..

 **Po's Dreamscape**

A rustle. Po opened his eyes. He was in the middle of the bamboo forest. A thick wall of bamboo surrounded him from all sides, save for a small gap almost too small to fit through. He looked around, fast. A feeling of intense nervousness began to overtake him. Another rustle. This time to the left of him. He spun around and stared at the place intently. A shiver went through him. He began to walk slowly forwards, towards the gap in the impenetrable wall. A feeling of being watched made the back of his neck prickle. Po turned around suddenly again, to face nothing. His breathing and heart rate began to speed up. He heard rustling, louder now on his right side. He quickly turned and began to walk faster towards the gap. More rustling and quick thudding footsteps began behind him. Po gasped and began to run towards the gap in the bamboo. It stood there, the embodiment of safety, waiting for him to reach it. He kept running as fast as he could.

Suddenly, the gap closed as bamboo shoots sprouted up at lightning speed to cover the hole. Po gasped. He heard the footsteps quickly increase in speed behind him. His breath coming in short and ragged gasps, he slowed from his run to avoid hitting the bamboo wall. Suddenly he looked down. His heart seemed to stop. On the floor, by the edge of the bamboo wall, was a limp form. Its limbs were splayed out at awkward angles, and its head was tilted back unnaturally. The leg wraps, red vest and black pants were stained with a substance that looked to be pooling around the prone figure. Po stared, horrified. Suddenly, the figure twitched, its head raised up, and a loud crack was heard as the figures head seemed to connect back with its neck. The head slowly turned around to face Po. The eyes of the figure, instead of being amber, were a dead white. The face was mottled, the usually beautiful stripes stained with blood and a darker, more sickly green pattern. The poisonous growth climbed up from the figures neck and looked as if it was spreading across the face, turning the corner of one eye to the same deathly green. Po's heart seemed to stop. He opened his mouth, and screamed.

 **Hey guys, it's been a while, huh. This chapter was a long time coming, but it's here at last! Please remember to review and favourite, or if you're enjoying where the story is heading give it a follow. I'm back now and there wont be massive breaks again! I'm excited to write more, let me know what you guys think!**


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